Billie Eilish

My son has been into Billie for coming up for a year. I'm not really a liker of her music {more of a Clairo guy} but her and her brother are kind of taking the net by storm and it's translating to real people and real gigs. They make a big deal of being literal bedroom composers/producers but I like that aspect of them. Despite the brother's perceived geekiness, they are among the foremost current poster children for the recording power inherent in micro-technology.
If all this stuff had been around in the same way 40 years ago, I wonder how many of us would have embraced it in the same way. I suspect loads.
 
I still think the Internet liberated the music. Yes, there are lots of bad music, but there are also loads of good music. Just take this place, I have heard some really good songs and mixes.

I just thougth it was interesting. I am rather surprised no one else brought it up. Seemed like the poster kids for this board.
 
Billie Eilish is depressing and uninspiring. She makes me feel like stepping in front of a fast moving commuter train.

I'd rather listen to something fun and upbeat like this...




YouTube
 
Just for the record...don't buy into that "made in the bedroom" stuff, or that they got to where they are all thanks to their Soudcloud postings.

He already had industry connections through other channels, and then brought his sister to big-time industry management...and then they mapped out a marketing strategy for her, all with two managers, publicist, hair stylist...etc...etc.
Without that, without the corporate machine behind them...they are no different that the thousands of other talented people with music on Soundcloud and other outlets that have some kind of following.

Also...the music was profeffsionally mixed and mastered.

I say again, they are just as talented as thousands of others on the internet....but that said, I find her music style annoying, the whole whispering thing, not to mention that whole "channeling Linda Blair" thing she does in most of her videos....the "I need an exorcism" imagery.
I mean...if it was a couple of songs, where that style was used to highlight them...but not song after song....but that's her thing, and it's being made into some new "sound".
Kinda like when the Hip-Hop/Rap/R&B artists started adding that annoying vocal autotune "chirp" to every song...it just got annoying to listen to...but it was the new thing, so everyone copied it.
I'm sure "whisper singing" will be the new craze now...though TBH, it's noting new, it was just never made such a big deal about....but then, that's what happens when the corporate machine latches on to something....they will market it until they drain every once of life out of it.

I think she actually has a decent voice, nothing outstanding...but I guess this is how she wants to use it. I do find much of her music to be coming from some depressed, and even dark place. Most of it expresses some kind of upset for her. It's interesting that is what her teen fans are connecting with.
 
Well, yes there is still a lot of "street work" that is required, and that really wasn't the point. I haven't even listened to the music.

The post was meant as encouragement of home recording. For example, on one of their songs they used Logic, had some Yamaha monitors and an AT2020, some low end keyboard controller. That is what, $1000 bucks plus the cost of a computer? I mean it is a low end with some learning on how it all works.

I still think it is inspiring to all of the bedroom dreamers.

I do agree, you are going to be found by posting on SoundCloud and wait. Lot more to it, but it can be done.
 
For example, on one of their songs they used Logic, had some Yamaha monitors and an AT2020, some low end keyboard controller. That is what, $1000 bucks plus the cost of a computer? I mean it is a low end with some learning on how it all works.

I still think it is inspiring to all of the bedroom dreamers.

But see...that's really not relative.
You could say that every big artist at one time used some low-budget instrument and/or emerged out of some bedroom or garage.

The dream was/is always there for every young artist...but the real point was always, and still is, that without the corporate machine getting behind you, you're not going to get to any high level in the music biz...so the Internet and the inexpensive mics have not really changed that.

I'm not trying to rain on any parades here...just stating the obvious.

Yes...the internet and the inexpensive gear have given more people the opportunity to create and to kinda "self-distribute"...but then, that's also the problem...because there are tens of thousands talented people now trying to catch that same corporate ring on the music biz merry-go-round....so the competition is 50-fold greater than it ever was...but everyone can still dream.
 
Yeah this time it was recorded with a $80 AT2020 mic and the SPACES video and other interviews layout how this Grammy Sweep recording was actually done in a bedroom.

MPK Mini.....AT2020..... some of the tools, shes the first Millenial to score this big in the biz.

Wikipedia mentions how it snowballed from a song on Soundcloud to Spoitfy....etc....

the videos and marketing came later but watching the live shows packed and energetic youth, music not intended for old men most likely...but still an interesting story.

Carpool ..with Billie is also interesting watch, in addition to the SPACES with Finneas video.

My sons band records but in solo mode he was using the fruityloops stuff more like this Elctro-Pop Rap whatever it is music and it sounds commercial out of the bedroom.....

no one needs a Capitol Record Studio with $30,000 microphones for this type music. and lets not take away from their arrangement skills and plugin/ DAW skills etc...

AT 2020 mics will probably become popular with this age group, at least until the next big thing....
 
Well, yes there is still a lot of "street work" that is required, and that really wasn't the point. I haven't even listened to the music.

The post was meant as encouragement of home recording. For example, on one of their songs they used Logic, had some Yamaha monitors and an AT2020, some low end keyboard controller. That is what, $1000 bucks plus the cost of a computer? I mean it is a low end with some learning on how it all works.

I still think it is inspiring to all of the bedroom dreamers.

I do agree, you are going to be found by posting on SoundCloud and wait. Lot more to it, but it can be done.

I agree thats what got me interested in the story (following the Grammy press).

Its refreshing and new, and of course, dont you think the youthful energy comes through too?

In one interview Finneas has said hes upgraded with a Neuman 103 too now, but the early first hit Ocean Eyes was the $80 AT2020, the MPK Mini is dirt cheap running Midi on the Grammy winning Album (is it an album? streaming album?) , my son has one.

The bedroom works for this kind of music, but its humbling how great it sounds fresh out of the bedroom, its like finished and so much better sounding than the regular stuff with garage guitar drum band stuff, that requires so much work in comparison. I dont really understand it, but its pretty wild.

Im waiting for a McCartney & Billie song soon because old Paul seems to want to be included with everything big....lol
 
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This video from CBS Sunday Morning show where they did the album. Since you really don't have a lot of acoustic instruments that need space, it's very plausible to do the whole thing there. I think it is a bit like early Pomplamoose from 10 years ago. A Mac, Ableton or Logic, a good mic, and a lot of talent will get you a long way if you have the expertise. Sure, her brother sent the mixes off to be mastered, but there's no crime in that. Its nothing every other artist hasn't done for the past 50 years.



Whether you like the songs is just a matter of taste. Some were fine, but Xanny is unlistenable to me. If you want to see an good treatise on that one, check out this YouTube.
 
..no one needs a Capitol Record Studio with $30,000 microphones for this type music.

Yes...I agree with you.
For that type of music...it's mostly about samples and mostly about "sound design"...lots of unusual ear candy layered over very basic beats.
Except for her vocals, I doubt there was much live tracking of anything else...maybe a bit of guitar, if even that.

Of course...there are all kinds of other music where that ^^^ approach simply wouldn't work...and that's why I say it can be misleading to other "bedroom" studio folks, if their music styles are different, and they make the wrong assumptions about what they can do in the bedroom.
Of course, if they're doing the same kind of stuff as Eilish and her bro...then they can use them as a template. I'm sure right about now there are a few hundred or more people already gearing up to mimic that style...which tends to always happen in the Pop world when someone goes big.
 
I first wrote about Billy and her brother in this thread HERE in the end of December.

Clearly she's not for everyone, my wife hates her, and also hated Taylor Swift. I'm big fans of both and have always been. Both excellent gifted songwriters...

I watched her on the Late show when Alicia Keys ( I also really appreciate and enjoy) BEFORE the grammys and all I can say Holy shit she is talented...She and Alicia did one of her songs live with Alicia trading vocals and playing the keys unaccompanied ...live... Awesome.. They also showed a video of Billie doing an Adelle song at a talent show at freekin 12 years old! ...this girl was destined for stardom.

Judge and hate all you want ...it's a bad ass cool success story of a very talented young lady and her brother and some extremely supportive parents... All that and if the fickle finger of fate had pointed the wrong way with all that going for them...We very possibly may have never heard of her.......as is the case with a million other very talented folks...that just weren't at the right place at the right time.

Happy for her success ...and hope to hear even better stuff as she grows in ability to write and produce her music...

Below is a snippet @ 1:45 in the video of the show where Alicia is giving Billie Cred and they show the clip when she was 12...damn! I know I sure couldn't have pulled that off at 12 nor most anybody that has become a pro...The kid was blessed with the a beautiful gift.

YouTube
 
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Billie Eilish is a Pop version of Marilyn Manson for teenage girls.

5 years from now many of her fans will be laughing at themselves for liking this crap.

From a recording aspect.... many of us have been star-struck at the thought of our own home recordings hitting the big time ever since we heard that Tom Scholz recorded Boston's debut album in his basement.

Sometimes it's true that great songs were recorded at home, but more often it's a half-truth.

To be honest, the only album in the article below that I'm familiar with is (obviously) The Rolling Stone's Exile On Main Street....

15 Legendary Albums That Were Recorded in Bedrooms, Kitchens, and Garages
 
Billie Eilish is a Pop version of Marilyn Manson for teenage girls.

5 years from now many of her fans will be laughing at themselves for liking this crap.

On this point I politely disagree but I guess the only way we'll know is to check back on this thread in 5 years....The way things are going right now in my world it is more than likely I won't be around to check....cest la vie ....it is what it is...


Sometimes it's true that great songs were recorded at home, but more often it's a half-truth.

To be honest, the only album in the article below that I'm familiar with is (obviously) The Rolling Stone's Exile On Main Street....

15 Legendary Albums That Were Recorded in Bedrooms, Kitchens, and Garages

Yeah on this one I agree "legendary?" most I am not aware of...With the Stones ...The dumb album may have not been recorded in a "studio" but I've personally seen Wally Heider remote recording Van and these "vans back in the day were completely state of the art so it's not like some unsigned "loser" recording a song in their garage on an 8 track and it becoming a world wide recognizable HUGE success...With regard to Dave Grohl...he'd already made it and you know they used top of the line recording equipment...so... Kudo's to Billies brother...yeah he may have been slightly known from his acting career and had made some middle class income but certainly not millionaire status when he used his Imac to record Billies first world wide hits...without any major music company helping in any way...

Speaking again of that 8 track recording...Beck did pull that trick off....

"Loser" was written and recorded by Beck while he was visiting Stephenson's home.[9] Although the song was created spontaneously, Beck has claimed to have had the idea for the song since the late 1980s; he once said, "I don't think I would have been able to go in and do 'Loser' in a six-hour shot without having been somewhat prepared. It was accidental, but it was something that I'd been working toward for a long time."[10] Beck played some of his songs for Stephenson; Stephenson enjoyed the songs, but was unimpressed by Beck's rapping. Stephenson recorded a brief guitar part from one of Beck's songs onto an 8-track, looped it, and added a drum track to it.[9] Stephenson then added his own sitar playing and other samples.[11] At that point, Beck began writing and improvising lyrics for the recording.[9] For the song's vocals, Beck attempted to emulate the rapping style of Public Enemy's Chuck D.[11] According to Beck, the line that became the song's chorus originated because "When [Stephenson] played it back, I thought, 'Man, I'm the worst rapper in the world, I'm just a loser.' So I started singing 'I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me.'"[12] According to Rothrock, the song was largely finished in six and a half hours, with two minor overdubs several months later
 
Billie Eilish is a Pop version of Marilyn Manson for teenage girls.

5 years from now many of her fans will be laughing at themselves for liking this crap.

She may be talented (like many other people are, but don't get that break)...but I too feel that her style of music, like so much of the "Modern Pop" (or maybe "Juvenile Pop" is better) that we've had the last 10-15 years...is highly disposable because the fan base tends to be very young, and because the fan base is way too trend and convenience focused.
What is hip today is boring tomorrow, as soon as the next new trend comes along...but it's now at a much more rapid rate than in past decades, due to the internet and social media.
All that "viral" nonsense is truly like a virus. It hits big...and then it's gone and generally forgotten.
Just consider the "Modern Pop" icons of the last 15 years....how quickly they have been pushed aside in favor of new ones.

IMO, much of it really has to do with the target age group...which is young girls, who grow up to be women, and they tend to want to discard that young girl stuff along the way, because even adult women are way too fashion/trend focused...and they are always looking for the next new trend.
Not trying to just stereotyped...but it's really pretty obvious. IMO...Eilish will be selling perfume and clothing 5 years from now, trying to ride the trend wave into adulthood.
 
On this point I politely disagree but I guess the only way we'll know is to check back on this thread in 5 years....The way things are going right now in my world it is more than likely I won't be around to check....cest la vie ....it is what it is...

What's going on with you...that sounds pretty somber?
 
Having a not so fun battle with an aggressive type of squamous skin cancer. Multiple surgeries radiation immunotherapy. More surgeries and going forward it looks like a game of whack a mole until there’s no more of me to whack. I definitely may hang for more than 5 years but with this shit there are no guarantees. At this moment their not saying get you affairs in order just that based upon what has gone down so far. It’s going to be an ongoing battle unless a cure pops up in the meantime. It could happen but what they thought would help me actually accelerated the dang stuff. Pretty scared up but overall Heath and energy are great and I’m totally grateful for what I have and am able to do. I’ll keep on keeping on till there’s nothing to keep.
 
Yeah...sometimes the doctors mean to do the best, but often they're just experimenting, since everyone is different and they can never really guarantee anything.
I think the best you can do for yourself is keep your positive attitude...that alone will extend your outlook.
 
Hey TAE........Micro is right about having a positive outlook. I have a relative who is fighting a cancer as well. The immunotherapy they tried at first was terrible.....for both his energy and his results. After a while the docs figured out how to sort of balance all the different regimens and things got much better over time. Hang in there bud.
 
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